increase font size
Paul Sharp.
Farmers looking to offset the summer milk production drop need to act now with strategic pasture management and high-energy supplements.
Milk collection is down as much as 6% this season due to difficult production conditions, coupled with increasingly dry ground conditions in the north and east of the country.
Paul Sharp, SealesWinslow animal nutrition specialist, says seasonal milk production decline is due to a variety of factors which include physiological changes in the cow, reduced pasture growth rates and seasonal decline in pasture quality.
“If we look at the numbers associated with each of these factors, we see that a 4-6% production decline per month results from the seasonal physiological changes in the cow,” says Sharp.
“Yet the average production decline on New Zealand dairy farms is close to 15% per month. The difference between these figures – 9-11% – comes from the impact of the feed quality and quantity.”
Right now with reduced pasture growth rates, the limiting animal factor is sufficient drymatter availability and the composition of this pasture for maintaining milk production and cow condition.
“The more we can offset the impact of falling pasture quality and quantity, the more milk we’ll be able to produce through summer,” says Sharp.
“Ideally, we only want to see a 5% drop in production each month.”
He notes that to achieve this it is paramount to manage grazing to optimise pasture quality.
“Adjust the rotation so that you’re grazing pastures when the plant is still young. That way there will be less seedhead and stem – and therefore less fibre in the feed.
For those areas where there is still moisture, pasture growth can be promoted by the use of regular, light dressings of nitrogen fertiliser and just 15-18kg N/ha should be enough to encourage high quality leaf growth.
“At the same time, you can increase the energy density of the animal’s diet by using high-energy supplements,” says Sharp.
“These can just be used strategically to fill that energy gap and keep milk production levels up. SealesWinslow’s Kick Starch or Home Run pelleted feed is ideal for this use.”
Trace elements are the ‘invisible fence at the top of the cliff’ that can protect a dairy herd’s health and ensure cows meet their full production potential, says SealesWinslow nutrition extension specialist Simon Butler.
Waikato dairy farmers are well-placed heading into the peak of summer, thanks to favourable growing conditions late last year that resulted in abundant onfarm feed reserves.
The merger of two of the country’s largest animal nutrition companies won’t lessen competition, the Commerce Commission has ruled.
Rural trader Farmlands has completed the final hurdle to purchase animal nutrition business Seales Winslow.
SealesWinslow says it has launched an easy-to-use digital decision- making tool that is helping dairy farmers take the guess work out of feeding their herds and use their supplements more efficiently to maximise returns.
While opening the first electrode boiler at its Edendale site, Fonterra has announced a $70 million investment in two further new electrode boilers.
Fonterra says its ongoing legal battle with Australian processor Bega Cheese won’t change its divestment plans.
With an amendment to the Medicines Act proposing human medicines could be approved in 30 days if the product has approval from two recognised overseas jurisdictions, there’s a call for a similar approach where possible to be applied to some animal medicines.
The Government wants to make sure that rural communities get a level of service that people who live in cities often complacently expect.
As the New Zealand Government launches negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement with India, one Canterbury-based vegetable seed breeder is already benefiting from exporting to the world's fifth-largest economy.
Onenui Station on Mahia Peninsula in northern Hawke's Bay is a world first in more ways than one.
